I love going to the pool! Lying out by that beautiful blue water, smelling suntan lotion and a slight wif of chlorine, getting so hot that I have to get in the water. There I can float or use my kick board to get a little exercise. And don’t forget that summer novel, an ice cold drink, and meeting someone new.

When we were growing up, we went to the lake every week, and we never had a pool membership.

When the girls came along, I wanted a pool membership! After one summer in a public pool, another in my mother-in-laws’ subdivision pool, we bought our own membership to a pool about ten minutes from our home. Two of the girls had taken swim lessons there.

I can’t believe this, but I really did make homemade cookies and heated hotdogs in the morning. The girls were each responsible for their own bag, with a towel and sunscreen and anything else they wanted to take. We all had our suits, coverups, and flip flops on and we were out the door.

Our goal was to reach the pool by 10:00 so we could claim our loungers. We parked ourselves at the shallow end, because that was where the girls swam.

They were too young to be conscience of themselves, and they made lots of new swim buddies. We were close to the entrance, so we could see everyone who came in and greet our friends. The high dive and adult swim area was right in front of us. My youngest actually jumped off the high dive when she was six. (She is my adventurous daughter to this day.)

When they were older, the girls wanted to buy their lunches at the concession stand. I gave them a budget, and they spread that money as far as they could. We sat closer to the middle of the pool.

At this point, the girls were more aware of themselves. They still swam with a few friends, but mostly they stayed together, floating on blowup air mattresses, and taking some time to lay out and get some sun.

A few years went by, and the girls no longer wanted to go to the pool. Two were teens by this time, so I would leave everyone at home and go to the pool by myself. I chose a lounge chair at the deep end of the pool, read part of my book, floated and got some sun. I hated it. The first time I went, I actually shed a few tears behind my sunglasses. I knew it was the end of an era. I continued to have a membership and sometimes the girls would come to swim laps. A couple days before I had breast cancer surgery, I went and swam for the last time.

After my treatments, it was recommended that I go to a breast cancer water exercise group. All the girls were gone, so I was on my own. I joined the health club and participated in the classes.

The first day I went, I was surrounded by women older than myself. I wondered how I had gotten to this point in my life so quickly!

I have belonged to another indoor/outdoor pool close to home for several years now so that I can exercise year-round. I can only exercise in the water because of my truncal lymphedema. This is a pool mostly for older people, with a grandchild every now and then. And you know, I am looking more like them every year.

What happened to those days? I remember my older relatives working in their gardens at their own pace, doing their chores early, having picnics, and sitting on the porch swing in the evening with a friend or relative. This is a way of life that we have forgotten.

Our lives are so busy today that even when we are trying to have summer fun, we work very hard at it and we spend a lot of money. Husbands and wives work two jobs to earn that money, and then they have to build up vacation days to go on the big trip. Our children don’t know how to entertain themselves. They may not even go outdoors much if they have a gaming system or an IPad. It should come as no surprise to anyone that parents are buying these electronics for very young children. Now we are so busy that we grab fast food instead of cooking something nourishing. Big vacations, lots of technology, summer camps, summer academic classes, stuff, stuff, and more stuff (we have to have a great wardrobe for our vacation!) – we have it all, but we have lost something in the transition.

My mother’s summers were much more low-key. Mom loved riding on her big draft horse, Tom. Swimming was not at a pool with an exclusive membership. Creeks, ponds and lakes were treats instead. If there were grape vines to swing out over the lake that was a bonus. The family’s food was homeade and delicious. My grandmother was an amazing cook! The family lived on mostly what they grew or animals that they raised themselves. Now we call that “organic”. There were books to read on the front porch while munching on an apple or drinking a homemade glass of lemonade. A tire swing was entertaining. There were chores, too. Mom participated in gardening, canning, quilting, and getting eggs from the hen house. On special occasions, Mom might have a friend spend the night from her small country school.

It might be a good for us to simplify our lives in the summer. Take a break from your computer, your TV, your phone (other than calling others), even your Kindle. Play board games together. Try reading a real book that has pages that smell good and have beautiful illustrations. Put up a hammock or a swing on the porch, and actually use it at the end of the day. Get up early to sit outside and enjoy the coolness of the morning and the sounds of the birds. Give your kids jars and let them catch fireflies. Build a fire in your fire pit and make s’mores. Make homeade ice cream. Have a picnic with delicious foods and a quilt spread out on the grass. Show your kids how fun it is to roll down a long steep hill. Lie on your back and look at the stars at night. Maybe gather some basic camping equipment and delve in the world of campgrounds.

Whatever you choose to eliminate from your schedule, take time to relax and to be together as a family. That is the way to make family memories that your children will still talk about when they are adults.

If you would happen to take 19 South off Interstate 79 in West Virginia, looking for Skipper or Mitzi Roberts, You might stop at the local store and ask where they live. Likely you would hear, “Oh, theys up on Birch”.

Birch River is a town, but it is also a river that runs through two mountains, with very few flat spots. The road is a two-lane narrow curvy drive.

Birch River is really a stream in most places, but there is a beautiful waterfall and pond in one area that people go to swim. There used to be a mill at that waterfall.

I have many memories of summers at Birch, staying with my sister, my mom, my grandma and my Aunt Ruth in my Uncle Brant’s hunting shed, which had a kitchen and a bedroom, and was made of metal and heavy cardboard. Really. We got water from a well, and pretty much roughed it. We used the outhouse, and most of the time there was a big snake curled up next to it. No one wanted to go to the bathroom after dark! My sister Becky and I would play in the icy water for hours. Sometimes we found colored rocks and made “indian facepaint”. Other times we would float things down the river as a contest to see whose item got to the “finish line” first. People around the area would hear that we were there, and many relatives would stop by to visit. I loved to listen to their stories.

My grandmother, one of fourteen children, grew up on Birch (see A Tribute). Her father was a logger; in fact he was the head of a logging crew. My grandmother taught in a one-room school house similar to “Christy”, if you have seen the movie or read the book. They called their home the “old home place”.

All of the fourteen children have passed away; the last sister died a few years ago at the age of 103.

Their home is no longer there, but Uncle Glen and Aunt Ruby Roberts’ house has become the “old home place”. Glen and Ruby have also passed away, but the home has been used by several of their relatives.

Every year, Roberts relatives come to the “old home place” for a reunion. There is a long table loaded with great country cooking, impromptu music played by relatives, and people in lawn chairs, talking and sharing pictures. The older relatives share stories with younger people about life on Birch. The children play in the stream. Sometimes we make the trek up to cemetery on the mountain and visit the graves of those long gone but not forgotten.

After the reunion ends, we like to drive up and down the road that runs next to Birch River, reminiscing about our summers there and seeing our favorite spots.

This weekend, my mom, my sister Becky, her granddaughter Kennedie and I will go the the Roberts’ reunion. We will enjoy the food, music, memories shared, and a drive through the area to see places remembered. We may drive up to the cemetery, although in this season there are a lot of snakes there.

So, if anyone asks where we are next weekend, you can just tell them, “Oh, theys up on Birch”.

It was a much simpler time. There were no computers, iPads, smart phones, or other electrical devices, other than maybe a radio that ran on batteries and could be taken outside. There were only three broadcasting networks. There was no cable TV. There were no VCRs, DVDs, BlueRay, or the Internet. No one could rent a movie to watch. The three networks ran special programs that were advertised well in advance. We would make time to sit and watch the programs together. Two that played once a year were “The Wizard of Oz” and “Cinderella”. We did not stay inside and watch TV during the day.

Summer was a time for creativity. We played outside in the morning, swimming in a pool that was probably three feet deep.

Other mornings found us riding our bikes and clipping cards on the spokes to make a loud noise when we rode the bikes. We had a great clubhouse, with real glass windows, built by my dad, and we spent lots of time pretending we were other people living in another place or time. One summer, we played “Little Women” almost everyday. We had two big shade trees out back with a stream running the length of the back yard at the edge of our property. It was the perfect place for a picnic lunch. We had a tire swing, and had lots of fun taking turns swinging.

When the afternoons got hot we went inside. We did not have air conditioning, so we headed to our cool unfinished basement to play with Barbies or other toys and to pretend the basement was a roller skating rink.

Mom always had a great summer meal planned, and we often ate outdoors. After dark, we would go out and watch fireflies – we called them lightning bugs. We would catch them in a jar and then release them at the end of the evening.

Once or twice a summer, Dad would pitch our tent and we would spend the night outside with friends.

One week of the summer we would go to Vacation Bible School at our church. It was only a half day, and we had a lot of fun (except for the stale cookies and Koolaide they served for the snack.)

We always had a family vacation and our camping week. We really looked forward to those; travel was more special than it is now. We traveled in our camper. I did not stay in a motel or hotel very often until I was an adult. It was always an adventure with our family!

My other summer pleasures were drawing and reading books. I loved it when Mom came home from the store with fresh apples. There was nothing like a fresh apple with a good book.

Sometimes in the summer, we would just lie on our backs in the grass and watch the clouds.

There are too many details of our childhood summers to include everything. it was a simple yet special time.

Of course, we finished school before Memorial Day and returned to school after Labor Day. The children in our local school districts went to school through the first week of June this year and they will return to school around the 11th or 12th of August. That takes a lot of of one’s summer! As a teacher, I will begin working again by that same time, even though we won’t start for a couple of weeks after that. As a private Christian school we can make our own calendar.

Back to the summers of children today. They have almost one month cut from their summer. They tend to spend lots more hours indoors playing video games and watching TV. They are signed up for so many camps, it would make your head spin. In addition to more elaborate vacations, they also go with their friends on their vacations. Then there are lessons and tutoring for those who need a little help catching up to be ready for the next school year. Many children have babysitters because both parents work, or they may be in daycare year round, not even really knowing what it feels like to spend a summer day outdoors with no schedule.

As for me, I prefer the much simpler times. After I write this, I may curl up with an apple and a good book, or sit outside to watch the fireflies.